Chapter 135 Strongest Sage, Perplexed

Ruli and the others were panicking when they saw me falling down.
Thus I reply to them.

"I'm fine!"

"Eh, that's--"

Ruli's voice was drowned out by the roaring sound of the collapsing ground.
I kick the side of the created hole and leap. ...Below.

Since the monster was simply falling, I reached the bottom of the hole faster with my acceleration.
Merely a second difference, but it was enough.
I moved to my destination during that time.

Arriving at a cavity that was only big enough for one person.
I went inside and held my sword upward.

Abdomen is one of the weakest point of a creature.
That doesn't change with monsters.
It's hard to directly attack the abdomen of a four-legged monster above ground--but I can do it as much as I want from here.

The monster's defenseless abdomen falls to where I am.
There I stabbed my sword strengthened with physical reinforcement.

"GAAAAAA"

The monster attempts to crush me with its foot while screaming in agony and rage.
However, the monster's attack never reaches me. I didn't even need to evade.
This hole is big enough to make the monster fall, but too small to have it freely move around.

Thus, the monster couldn't do anything but receive my attack and died in less than one minute.

"Alright, subjugation complete."<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>
"Mathi-kun!"

Ruli rushed to me when she saw me coming out of the hole.
It appears that they also joined the fight judging from the arrows stuck on the monster's back.

"Are you alright!? I was surprised when the ground suddenly caved in...."

"That was part of the plan. I was the one who made a hole on the ground after all."

"Besides the little there was on the surface, the ground was hollowed out. So it would collapse right when the monster rushed on it."

"...A pitfall?"

"Yea. It's a practical version of the magic I usually use to restore the schoolyard. Disqualified Crest can only open a hole this big, but other crests can make bigger ones and even install magic tools inside."

"But how'd you make such a big hole that fast...."

"You just have to get used to it. Since the forest soil is soft, you can easily do it if you just know the trick. Ruli too, you can make a hole this big if you practice. ...Well, it's hardly usable against monsters that fly in the sky though."

By the way, putting magic tools inside a hole to make an instant death trap is an effective tactic for a solo Glory Crest.
I used it often too in my younger days in my past life.
I didn't use that tactic and plunged myself into hole to do the attacking this time though.

"I...I'll make sure to practice it next time!"

"Yeah. By the way, I recommend explosion-type magic for the installed magic. By locking the explosion inside that hole, you can concentrate the force on the monster and give way more damage than using it on level ground."

I dismantled the monster while talking about that and put the usable-looking parts into the storage magic.
I'm reluctant to have my maximum mana reduced so I didn't store the sell-able parts.

...We finally arrived at the dungeon city after that battle.
The time was roughly evening.